Opinion | Hong Kong and its Greater Bay Area peers should complement each other while competing for talent
- Hong Kong’s failure to retain more of the bright mainland students it has trained adds to perception the city is in a sorry state, but dwelling on this alone is narrow-minded thinking
- City has a timely and more direct way to enhance its attractiveness – a total lifting of its mask mandate
![Travellers arrive in Hong Kong from mainland China. Photo: Jelly Tse](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2023/02/26/bec29425-8563-4628-8d25-b454634357bb_49fc9bb4.jpg?itok=eDHMb-ll&v=1677416055)
Last week, I was finally able to set foot on the other side of the border for the first time in three years.
I joined a media delegation visiting Guangzhou, including Nansha district at its southern tip, designated as the “new engine driving high-quality development” for Guangdong’s more than 2,200-year-old provincial capital.
![Shenzhen is one of nine mainland city in the Greater Bay Area. Photo: Sam Tsang Shenzhen is one of nine mainland city in the Greater Bay Area. Photo: Sam Tsang](https://img.i-scmp.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=contain,width=1024,format=auto/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2023/02/26/d4e3b2ea-d253-416f-ae31-2b1e7922a234_d5896c3e.jpg)
On a journey that also covered Shenzhen and Dongguan, a pleasant surprise for me was running into a young woman who used to take my class while studying for her master’s degree at Hong Kong’s Baptist University, where I taught part-time at its communications school.
In Dongguan, 75km from Shenzhen with a population over 10 million and an average age of 34 years, I met a graduate from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who had set up his robot design and manufacturing business there.
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